Practically from the beginning of his career, however, Welles had difficulty raising the money required to realize his enormous vision. His critics deemed it a character flaw, this inability to attend to the "business" side of showmanship, yet viewed from the perspective time allows, it seems clear that Orson Welles simply had too many ideas. He grew impatient with the pace of contracts and guarantees, of paybacks, cash advances and gross versus net. There was always another project, another Brave New World to invent.

What Orson Welles really needed in his kaleidoscopic life was a producer with the vision to match his own; a producer who could pony up a lot of money--say the price of one Pauly Shore film in mid-20th century dollars. Imagine what Orson Welles could have done with the budget for Dumb and Dumber when Harry Truman was in office. Sadly, Orson's Angel never appeared, and it was with his hat perpetually in his hand that Welles pursued his antagonistic muse.

It is well-known that he had numerous proposed, planned, in-progress, and/or aborted projects. It will no-doubt come as a surprise to the reader, however, to realize the magnitude of world-class loss that might have been avoided if somebody had just gotten off the dime.

Here are The Unseen Films of Orson Welles, originally compiled for the WorldWideWelles website by JRJ:

The Hearts of Age (1936)
Welles's first short film was rarely seen for over 50 years.

Too Much Johnson (1938)
Footage was shot to incorporate into his stage play but was never used. It was supposedly destroyed in a fire in Spain in 1970.

The Green Goddess (1939)
Footage was shot as a prologue to the stage play. It has been lost.

Heart of Darkness (1939)
A screenplay was written, sets designed, and test footage shot. It never reached production.